[E 286 
.B96 
1855 

Copy 1 



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BISHOP DOANE^S' ADDRESS 



ORGANIZATIONS, 



DANGEROUS TO FEEE INSTITUTIONS 



ORGANIZATIONS, 

DANGEROUS TO FEEE INSTITDTIONS: 

THE ADDRESS, 

AT 

BUELINGTON COLLEGE, 

lillij 4 1855; 

THE SEVENTY-NINTH ANNIVERSARY 
OF AMERICAN. INDEEENDENCE, 

AND THE NINTH AXNIVERSART OF THE FOLNDIXG OF BCRLINGTON COLLEGE : 



RT. REV. GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, D. P., LL. D. 



PRESIDENT. 



IKQUIRER BOOK PRESS, PHILADELPHIA. 
1855. 






Smitm nnlnitt'Wii 



Burlington College, ") 
July ^th, 1855. j 

Eight Key. Sir : — 

At a meeting of the audience present during the delivery of your 
Address in the College Hall, we have been appointed a Committee 
to request a copy for publication, which we hope you will not deny 
them : feeling assured that it will be the means of advancing the 
cause of Christian education, to which you have been so long and 
faithfully devoted ; and will contribute to increase our estimation of 
the great princij)le which- gave being to. our State; and to kindle 
those emotions of patriotism which may lead us to promote our 
highest interest. 

We are, Rt. Rev. Sir, 

Your affectionate friends and servants, 
Franklin Gauntt, 
Garrit S. Cannon, 
F. Engle, 

Committee. ^ 
To the Rt. Rev. G. W. Doane, D. D., LL. D., &c. 



THE FOUETH OF JULY, 



AT BURLINGTON COLLEGE. 



The annual celebration of tlie National and Academic birthday, 
at Burlington College, began with the usual exchange of congratu- 
lations, between the Students of the College and the Bight. Bev. 
President, at Biverside, at nine o'clock on the morning of the Fourth. 
The procession from the College was headed by Cross's Philadelphia 
Band. Mr. Hugh L. Clarke, of the Senior Class, addressed the 
Bishop, as the representative of his classmates and companions, as 
follows : — 

Right Reverend President : 

It is no mere etiquette, no idle ceremony, that has brought us to 
your door. We come, your sons, to congratulate you upon the r(j- 
turn of this glorious day. To us, it has no common interest. "VYe 
celebrate, at the same time, the anniversary of the birthday of our 
country, and that of our College. This day it is, which, more than 
any other, binds American hearts together ; and makes them, truly, 
what they boast to be, a band of brothers. Private differences, 
party dissensions, all are forgotten, in the general interest. There 
is no North or South, no East or West. It is America. 

It is a day, rich in its associations ; a day, above all others, in 
which to bless our God, for the inestimable boon of liberty. It is a 
day, in which we love to linger on the names of the martyr-heroes of 
the revolution ; a day consecrated to their memory. Would that 
they might be permitted now to see the blessings, which they 
created. But, alas ! it cannot be. The hands, that drew up the 
Declaration of Independence, have crumbled into dust ; the eloquent 



6 

lips, that advocated it, are closed ; the arms, that so nobly fought in 
its defence, are still, in death. But, let us pray, that the spirit that 
animated their noble souls may dwell within their sons, to make 
them what they were, defenders of the right. 

For thrice three years, on the return of this day, willing hearts 
have hastened, to pay you the tribute of their gratitude. Grratitude, 
for the many noble lessons, we have received from you. You have 
taught us to be freemen in the noblest sense ; to make religion life's 
guiding star ; to be Christian Patriots. You have shown us, in 
words which, we trust, we can none of us forget, how to be " the men 
to make a State;" be men of thought; be men of acts; be men of 
prayer ; be sons of Washington. For these, and more than these, 
we owe you the deepest veneration, and the warmest love. That 
we feel it, is, to you, a twice-told tale ; but, none the worse, for 
repetition. 

My father, may many a natal morn of this, our youthful College, 
dawn upon you, yet. Many times more, may your children gather 
round you, to greet you, with glad hearts ; and, as our noble Dela- 
ware rolls its tide along, to swell the ocean wave, so may a long line 
of freemen go, from our College walls, to swell the tide of our true 
hearted patriots. And, on each succeeding anniversary of this glo- 
rious day, when we bless the name of our country's great and good, 
deepest, most warmly cherished in our hearts, will be your name, 
our father, and our Washington. 

The Bishop replied bi'iefly, alluding, in turn, to each division of 
the two-fold theme of celebration ; and concluding with a caution, 
so necessary in these times, not to be carried away by the name 
Independence, into a forgetfulness of our mutual dependence upon 
each other, and the entire dependence of us all upon God. The 
independence, which is the watchword and key-note of this day's 
exultation, he represented as a historical independence ; and the 
subjection and chastening of all the feelings into thankfulness and 
obedience, which this anniversary suggests, as the part of a true re- 
ligious patriotism. 

At eleven o'clock, the Declaration of Independence was read, to a 
very large company, assembled in the College Study, by Mr. T. 
Gardiner Littell, of the Senior Class. After the musical interlude. 



tte Bishop delivered his ninth Annual Oration : which it was deter- 
mined, at a meeting, of those present, held immediately after its de- 
livery, to publish ; and Dr. Gauntt, Mr. G. S. Cannon, and Captain 
P. Engle were appointed a Committee, to request a copy, and to at- 
tend to its publication. The Rt. Rev. President, several of the 
Trustees, and the Alumni, who were largely represented on the oc- 
casion, and the clergy and other friends, dined, with the students, at 
one o'clock. 

The day closed with an elocutionary soiree, at seven o'clock. The 
pieces selected for declamation were appropriate and patriotic ; and 
the whole performance universally pronounced agreeable and in- 
teresting. 



ORGANIZATIONS, DANGEROUS TO FREE INSTITUTIONS. 



Our national existence wants but one, to-day, of fourscore 
years. In an age of progress, like the present, this is almost 
antiquity. A year does, now, what ten could not, a thousand 
years ago. We just reverse the antediluvian standard. 
Manhood must have come late, when life could reach nine 
hundred years and sixty-nine. And, when a nation springs, 
full-grown, into existence, age must come soon. The Con- 
stitution of the United State wants two, of three score years 
and ten ; and, through what changes it has passed ! Well, 
as it works, in spite of the infirmity of men, how diJlTerently 
from their design, who framed it ! Take, for example, the 
Constitutional requirement, that the electors of President and 
Vice President shall meet, on the same day, in all the States. 
In the simplicity of their virtue, they provided, thus, that 
the election, in every State, should be entirely free. They 
aimed at making it impossible, that any one could be con- 
trolled, by any other, or by all the rest. They never 
dreamed, that two Conventions, in Baltimore, or Philadelphia, 
would settle everything, beforehand. That the assembling 
of the Electoral Colleges would come to be the merest shadow 
of a form. That the only office of the Electors, when they 
came together, would be to name and certify the man, who 
had been agreed upon, by this or that Convention : throwing 
a pre-determined vote, without the slightest exercise of judg- 
ment, or of freedom. And, that who shall be the President, 
would be just as well known, before, as after, their assem- 
bling. This is but one instance of the change, which has 

9 



10 

• 

come round, in the working of the Constitution, in less than 
seventy years. Another, and a more disastrous, is the over- 
whelming importance, which attaches, now, to office, and the 
patronage, involved in it. It is not too much to say, that 
administrations seem now to be selected, not for the govern- 
ment of the country ; not for maintaining its relations with 
foreign powers ; not for the security of private rights, nor to 
promote the happiness of the people : but to make the ap- 
pointments, and to fill the offices. That, to the victors, the 
spoils belong, is now an axiom of the country. How far this 
is, from the true ends and uses of a government ; how dan- 
gerous to the rights of the people, how degrading to the 
.character of the nation, needs no philosophy, to show : nor, 
need I dwell on these unquestionable truths. What I pur- 
pose to do, is, to point out, very briefly, what seems to me 
the greatest danger of the day ; and, then, to indicate its 
remedy. Organizations are, in my judgment, dangerous to 
free institutions. The individual exercise of the right of suf- 
frage, in the integrity of freedom, is their only safety. 

Organizations are dangerous to free institutions. There 
must be free men, to have institutions free. And organiza- 
tions are incompatible with freedom. Whoever enters into 
such a compact, binds himself, by the very act, to the sur- 
render of his judgment and of his action, to the will of a 
majority. Who does not know, by how very few, these ma- 
jorities are governed ?* And, how commonly, one popular 
leader makes them, merely, the exponents of his will ? That 
was no chance definition, which declared "party," "the mad- 
ness of the many, for the benefit of the few." And, the 
teaching of all history is, in nothing, more uniform, than in 
this, that party-spirit digs the grave of freedom. The pro- 
phetic eye of Washington beheld this danger, from afar. In 
that noblest legacy, which uninspired wisdom has yet given 
to mankind, his " Farewell Address," " to the People of the 
United States," he utters these oracles of wisdom. " The 
alternate domination of one faction, over another, sharpened 



11 

by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which, 
in different ages and countries, has perpetrated the most 
horrid enormities, is, itself, a frightful despotism. But, this 
leads, at length, to a more formal and permanent despotism. 
The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline 
the minds of men to seek security and repose, in the absolute 
power of an individual ; and, sooner or later, the chief of 
some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate, than 
his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his 
own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. 

" Without looking forward, to an extremity of this kind, 
(which, nevertheless, ought not to be entirely out of sight,) 
the common and continued mischiefs of the spirit of party 
are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise peo- 
ple to discourage and restrain it. It serves, always, to dis- 
tract the public councils and enfeeble the public administra- 
tion. It agitates the community, with ill-founded jealousies 
and false alarms ; kindles the animosity of one part, against 
another ; foments, occasionally, riot and insurrection. It 
opens the door to foreign influence and corruption ; which 
find a facilitated access to the government itself, through the 
channels of party passions. Thus, the policy and will of one 
country are subjected to the policy and will of another. 

" There is an opinion, that parties, in free countries, are 
useful checks upon the administration of the government, 
and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within 
certain limits, is probably true : and, in governments of a 
monarchical cast, patriotism may look, with indulgence, if not 
with favor, upon the spirit of party. But, in those of a popu- 
lar character, or governments purely elective, it is a spirit 
not to be encouraged. From their natural tendencies, it is 
certain there will always be enough of that spirit, for every 
salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of ex- 
cess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to 
mitigate and assuage it. A fire, not to be quenched, it de- 
mands a uniform vigilance, to prevent its bursting into a 
flame; lest, instead of warming, it consume." 



12 

How truly, in sixty years, all this has been confirmed. 
Nay, the first four elections of a President more than con- 
firmed it, all. Term after term, the country was divided 
and distracted, by two opposing parties, under different names. 
One four years' strife was only terminated, by the renewal 
of another. At the present time, no line divides the nation, 
into two. There are no two party names, which serve as 
rallying cries, for the election. But, a state of things, still 
worse, is growing up. New organizations have been formed, 
and still are forming ; professing principles, but seeking pow- 
er. The more influential, from their compactness. The 
more dangerous, from their speciousness. The most destruc- 
tive, when they act with secrecy. As if, in a free country, 
there should be any thing clandestine. As if liberty did not 
walk, always, in the light. Against this form of evil, as against 
the spirit of party, in general, we have the solemn warning 
of our Washington. "All combinations and associations, 
under whatever plausible character, with the real design to 
direct, control, counteract, or awe, the regular deliberation 
and action of the constituted authorities, are of fatal ten- 
dency. They serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial 
and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated 
will of the nation, the will of a party — often, a small, but 
artful and enterprising, minority of the community : and, ac- 
cording to the triumphs of different parties, to make the pub- 
lic administration the mirror of the ill-conceived and incon- 
gruous projects of faction ; rather than the agent of consist- 
ent and wholesome plans, digested by common counsels, and 
modified by mutual interests. However, combinations or as- 
sociations of the above description may, now and then, an- 
swer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and 
things to become potent engines ; by which, cunning, ambi- 
tious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the 
power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of 
government ; destroying, afterwards, the very engines, which 
had lifted them to unjust dominion." 



13 

Were ever truer words ? "Was ever warning more impres- 
sive? Are we not, now, surrounded by these very evils? 
Are we not, now, more than, threatened with these very dan- 
gers? I speak, with no prejudice, of any of these [move- 
ments of the day. I hold them all, alike, as wrong in 
principle, and perilous in result. To none of them, do I owe 
any thing. 

" Nullius addictus, jurare in verba magistri." 
" Sworn to no master ; of no sect, am I." 

Whatever name they bear, whatever object they profess, 
I am against them all. Under a stern and grinding des- 
potism, men may find combination necessary ; though they 
combine, with halters round their necks. But, here, where 
all can think, where all can read, where all can write, where 
all can print ; where all men claim that they are equal ; and 
the will of the majority is the admitted law; that, which can- 
not be obtained, without a special organization, must be wrong: 
and the organization, which relies on secrecy, should be re- 
garded with suspicion ; and distrusted, lest it prove destruc- 
tive.* 

From the proposition, that organizations are dangerous to 
free institutions, I pass to that, which is its counterpart. 
The individual exercise of the right of suffrage, in the in- 
tegrity of freedom, is their only safety. In a free govern- 
ment, rights and responsibilities are reciprocal. Equal rights 
involve equal responsibilities. The man, who delegates his 
responsibilities, has conveyed away his rights. Vote is from 
Votum. Its first sense is, a wish, or ivill. The wisher, for 
a measure, or for a man, becomes a voter. His vote is his 
will. Who else can wish, for him ? To whom, can he depute 
his will? In what other way, can the wish of the nation be 

■^ It may be supposed that my argument is addressed to the associa- 
tion, commonly spoken of, as " Know Nothings." But, it is not so. / 
knoio nothing of them, or of any other organization, present or histori- 
cal. I but reproduce the words of Washington ; to enforce them, in the 
guidance of the young Americans, committed to my care. 



14 

ascertained, than by the wishes, or votes, of a majority? To 
■whom, but to its duly constituted representatives, can it en- 
trust the expression of its ■will ? The attempt to forestal it, 
through conventions, or to control it by associations, is vir- 
tually to surrender the government, to a fe^w ambitious dem- 
agogues ; and, ho^wever little suspected, is the longest first 
step, that a nation can take, to^ward the surrender of its lib- 
erties. The besetting sin of man is selfishness : and it does 
not take a hundred years, to pervert a government, ■which 
■was framed by the noblest hearts, and in the purest patriot- 
ism, into a machine, to ■work the ambitious and self seeking 
into place and power. It is the result of caucuses, and 
conventions, and societies, and unconstitutional organizations, 
of every kind, to frame and carry out the compact betAveen 
ofiice seekers : the most aspiring, to secure their elevation, by 
their pledges of distribution, to the hungry cre-w, ■who are 
their tools and slaves ; till their turn comes, to be the mas- 
ters. This is inseparable from the machinery of politics. 
And it ■works too "well, for the mercenary and the ambitious, 
to be easily got rid of. The one remedy is in every man, 
securing his own rights, by the discharge of his own respon- 
sibilities. The exercise of the individual right of suffrage, in 
the integrity of freedom. I shall be told that this is impos- 
sible.* That candidates could never be selected, in this way. 
That there could be no elections. My simple reply is, try 
it. If candidates are to represent a caucus, or a convention, 
or a society, or a party, it is all well, as it is. But, if they 
are to represent the people, the people must select them ; the 
people must elect them. As it now is, they are selected, by 

* My single and sufficient reply to this objection is ; then, a republic 
is an impossibility. I do not believe it. Our government, at present, 
is very nearly an oligarchy of office-holders and office-hunters. "You 
would not have spoken so/' said a most intelligent and excellent friend, 
"if you had desired an office." "Oh, yes, I would," was my reply : 
" I would not have an office, on any other terms." " Then," he said, 
" you would never get a vote !" Could there be clearer demonstration 
of my argument ! 



15 

the oflfice-seekers ; and elected, by those, ■whom they assemble, 
at the polls. At the present time, George Washington could 
not be made the President of the United States. We know 
that Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Web- 
ster could not. To " the powers that be," the Christian citi- 
zen will pay allegiance and obedience. But, the theory of 
our Constitution is, and the only theory of a true republic, 
that those who exercise the government shall be chosen by 
the people ; and, that the people, guided by intelligence and 
controlled by virtue, shall choose, in every case, the best. 
" Is he honest, is he capable, is he faithful to the Constitu- 
tion?" was Jefferson's enumeration of the qualities, for office. 
The question, now, is, can he be elected? And, if he is, will 
he give me an office ? It was a current maxim of the ancient 
patriotism, " Salus populi, suprema lex." The first jyrinci- 
ple of the government is the ivelfare of the people. We could 
suit the present state of things much better, by a text from 
Tacitus, "Romse, omnia venalia." At Rome, all things for 
sale. Which, being translated into American, is, to the vic- 
tors, belong the spoils. 

Neighbours and friends, my speech to you, to-day, has 
been of the very plainest. But, there is no food, in flattery. 
Nor any thing, for health and happiness, like the bare truth. 
No one will deny, that things are as I state them. No one 
can doubt, that the tendency is downward. In vain, we trust 
to our broad territory, to its vast productiveness, to the en- 
ergy of the people, to the advancements in science and in art, 
to an age of progress. Virtue is as essential, to a nation, as 
to a man. And, without virtue, freedom cannot be. 
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." "If 
the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." I 
have pointed out, what I believe to be, with God's blessing, 
our rescue and our remedy. The exercise of individual suf- 
frage, in the integrity of freedom. Every man should vote : 
and every man should vote for the best man. We should 
have no exciting quarrels, then, as to this or that specific 



16 

combination, for the benefit of parties, or interests, or indi- 
viduals. To live under the Constitution, and to vote for the 
Constitution, would describe the citizen. To administer the 
government, according to the Constitution, would be the 
standard of official action, through all the grades of office. 
The government of the United States would thus become, 
in practice, what our patriot fathers made it ; the most per- 
fect of all human institutions. And, to be an American citi- 
zen, and, like Paul, " born free," would then describe the 
highest style of man. 

This is a training school for Christian Freemen. In 
mind and heart, we are devoted to that work. In this con- 
nection, we can have no other thought, no other wish. Our 
text-books, as Christians, are the Bible and the Prayer Book. 
As Freemen, our text-book is the Constitution. Yfe need 
no other : and there are no better. But, in neither case, 
will books, alone, suffice ; nor all the learning, which all 
books can give. To be a Freeman, to be a Christian, is a 
practical thing. It must be done; not, merely, known. "If 
ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do them." Dear 
children of my love, my duty, and my prayers, be to the 
Church, be to the country, true and faithful sons. Strive, 
here, to form the character and habits, which will adorn your 
lives, and beautify your deaths, and go with you into im- 
mortality. 

"lie is a freeman, whom the truth makes free, 
And all are slaves, beside."* 

In the blessed words of the divine and holy Saviour, " If ye 
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed : and 
ye shall know the truth ; and the truth shall make you free." 

"Winds blow, and waters roll. 
Strength, to the brave, and Power and Deity ; 
Yet, in themselves, are nothing. One decree 
Spake laws to ihem; and said, that, by the soul, 
Only, the nations shall be great, and free."t 

* Cowper. t Wordsworth. 



iLiShiS ""^ CONGRESS 

liii. 



